Stanacev Sparkles, Serbia In Quarters

Ivana Boskovic congratulates Aleksandra Stanacev (right) on her inspiring perfomance that guided Serbia into the Quarter-Finals

Point guard Aleksandra Stanacev fired Serbia into the Quarter-Finals of the U18 European Championship Women with a sparkling 24-point performance that shot down the Slovak Republic, 71-56.

Eager to bury the disappointment of losing in gut-wrenching fashion to the Netherlands during overtime in the previous game, Serbia looked a team intent on taking their second chance, and so it proved.

However, it wasn't all plain sailing, since the Slovaks were was looking for their third straight win and started the contest in confident mood.

But, by half-time, Serbia had taken command with a nine-point advantage and whilst the Slovak Republic recorded an 8-0 run at the start of the third quarter, it was to be in vain.

They just couldn't stop Stanacev. The Serbian playmaker was either running the open court or slicing to the hoop with relative ease and her team seized the initiative for a final time.

Both Barbora Balintova and Zsofia Hruscakova registered double-doubles for the Slovak Republic, but it wasn't enough.

The loss did not distinguish their quarter-final dreams completely and now the Slovaks must wait to see if Slovenia could get a win by between 7 and 22 points against Croatia in the final game of the group.